


The Midnight Train

by Anoke



Series: And Michael Follows [1]
Category: Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence, David is an asshole, Don't Try This At Home, Drunk Driving, Ear Piercings, F/M, Flying, Gen, Hanging From A Bridge, M/M, Max is only mentioned, Memory Alteration, Michael is under the impression that David and Star are dating, Mind Games, Mind Manipulation, That thing where the Lost Boys chant Michael's name in his head, allow me to tell you that they are NOT, some headcanoned backstory on the boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-19 16:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19360942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anoke/pseuds/Anoke
Summary: Michael gets his ear pierced and answers the age-old question: If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> We’re going to assume that Santa Carla is different from Santa Cruz and that there is totally a freight line operating that sends trains through overnight, mmkay?
> 
> (Also on the list of things to assume: Michael washes and wears the textured white shirt he’s got on in the train scene again at a later date, Michael and the rest of the boys are in their twenties, physically, and David is **never** _not_ going to be an asshole.)

"What are you doing, Star?" David asked, having snuck up on their hesitant little fledgling while she was distracted.

Much to his satisfaction, she jumped at the sound of his voice, so close over her shoulder.

"Michael wanted his ear pierced," she said, a little defensively, holding up her piercing kit.

David said nothing, raising an eyebrow. Best way to get people to talk too much was to just shut up and let them fill in the silence.

"I thought you wouldn't mind, given that Michael's—" Star cut off there, unwilling to say it, to name the monsters hiding in the dark.

David let the silence hang for a second longer, then laughed quietly and clapped Star on the shoulder. 

"Not a bad idea, Star. Our latest Lost Boy could use an earring." Star's eyes tightened slightly, then opened wide in shock when David finished his thought. "I'll go get him one of mine."

"One of—" Star started, unable to stop herself.

"Of course," David added with completely false joviality. "He's one of _us_ , now, he should feel like it. I'll go grab one now, you can do his ear before we head out tonight."

Star's expression slid into her usual poker face. She wasn't going to fight him on this one. Not over something she'd walked right into, something he'd be able to see every time he looked at Michael.

Star might be doing the deed, but it would be his mark all the same.

\---

David rummaged through his box of earrings. He liked earrings, always had. The box held a mix; some were gifts, some bought or stolen, some trophies or just something he’d liked from his victims… and there were a couple that he’d made, with bits and pieces. He pulled out the one with two fangs dangling from it and smirked. That sorry asshole would be regretting trying to kill Max for the rest of his undead life.

The smirk faded. There was a time, not too long ago, where he’d have done anything for Max. But he’d been... more _there_. Nowadays the older vampire seemed like he was lost or dreaming most of the time, like he was just going through the motions. And some of the decisions he _had_ been making… 

They all liked Laddie. Dwayne and Paul adored the kid, in fact. But despite everything, David couldn't quite shake the feeling that changing a kid was not a good thing. It was, in fact, the reason why Laddie was still only half, while David tried to decide what to do about Max.

That thought felt _wrong_ , after having spent so much time with Max. He was the head of Santa Carla, the unseen head of their little family, David's _creator_. But something had been wrong with Max for at least a decade, wrong enough that David had been the defacto head of Santa Carla and the Lost Boys since ‘77. Wrong enough that when Star had come back two days ago trailing a beautiful stranger, David had made the decision to see if he was worth keeping, _before_ Max had come in with his frankly bizarre nuclear family plan. Wrong enough that David had given Michael David's own blood and not Max's.

And none of that was conducive to what David was doing _right now_ , he realized with a growl, and let the vampire fang earring drop as he started digging again.

Most of David’s stash was a little too ostentatious for Michael as he was now, still working on picking up the affectations of the boys, but…

Near the bottom of the box was something very simple. A coin, dangling from a wrapped wire hook. David had picked up the coin in the hotel in ‘01, just before everything had changed. 

Yeah. That would do nicely.

\---

Michael wandered into the sunken hotel around ten, still not completely sure why he was coming back. For Star, sure, but he would be able to see Star on the boardwalk, and after David’s initiation thing last night—and after watching Michael kiss Star with no more reaction than a little grin—he couldn’t imagine David objecting _that_ much. But somehow it wasn’t just Star. He’d actually had _fun_ last night, outside the fucking weird bits. 

They'd danced and gotten drunk, passing around the stupidly decorated bottle of wine and a bottle of Jack Daniel's, and when everyone was about ready to fall over they'd broken off and started talking. He and Paul had found out they liked a lot of the same music, Marko had told him a bunch of weird and interesting shit about birds (Michael still wasn’t sure he believed Marko about the ducks. Or the flamingos, for that matter.), Dwayne’d had some insight on a fucking Jane Austen book Michael had mentioned having had to read in one of his English classes, of all the fucking things—and David had flitted in and out of it all, offering up a couple of insights of his own, and eventually drawing Michael into a long conversation on bikes that had lasted until Michael had left.

Yeah. Okay. The weird bits had been _really_ weird, and he still wasn’t totally sure they weren’t just fucking with him for their own amusement, but he’d had a good time.

It still didn’t feel like quite the right answer.

They were waiting for him. Paul had started clapping and howling like the overenthusiastic nut he was, until David had waved a hand at him.

“Michael,” David said, that little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Good to see you back.”

“How could I say no?” Michael answered, working to sound sarcastic.

David’s smile grew. “We’ve got something fun in mind for tonight. But, first—” he held out another bottle of whiskey.

"What, trying to get me drunk?” Michael asked, mouth just running the fuck away with him.

David and the other boys snickered, thankfully.

“Nah. But a little bird told me you wanted to get your ear pierced," David said, with a glance at Star. “It’ll hurt less this way.”

Michael blinked, not quite sure how to feel about this having been turned into a group thing.

“Well, thanks,” he finally decided, and moved forward to take a swig out of the bottle David was offering. It burned going down and he only just kept from coughing it all up like a pansy, but it was better than anything Michael had ever snuck out of his dad’s liquor cabinet, so he counted it as a plus.

David grinned at him and took a long pull himself. Michael couldn’t help noticing the long column of David’s neck as he drank. Damn he was pale.

The bottle made the rounds among the boys, skipping Laddie, which made sense, and Star, which didn’t.

“What, Star doesn’t like alcohol?” Michael asked, trying to keep it casual.

Paul snickered, but David answered.

“She gets it after she’s finished your ear. Don’t want a tipsy piercing artist.”

Star actually smiled at that. “No, we don’t. Not after Paul. C’mere, Michael.”

Paul frowned exaggeratedly. “That was _one time_ ,” he protested.

“One time and three weeks to heal enough to get it done the right way,” Marko contributed.

“Right, no booze for the person doing the piercing, sounds like a good plan,” Michael said as he walked over to Star. They smiled at each other for a second.

_Michael_

“Right, how do we do this,” he asked.

“Sit down here,” Star gestured. “Want me to talk you through what I’m doing?”

_Michael_

“Sure,” Michael said, sitting where she’d indicated.

_Michael..._

“Okay. First, we clean your ear off,” Star said, getting out a little bottle and a swab.  
The swipe over his earlobe tingled.

_Michael..._

“I’m using a piercing needle; it’s hollow in the center, so it actually removes a bit of your ear instead of just moving everything to the side like a normal needle would.”

_Michael_

“I have not given enough thought to ear piercing before to consider that a good thing,” Michael murmured. Star smiled.

_Michael..._

“It helps lower swelling. Hell of a lot easier to get the earring in, too. I can stick it in the end of the needle and draw the whole thing through your earlobe, no shoving or thread or anything.”

_Michael…  
Michael..._

Michael considered this for a moment, all too aware of the other boys watching them. Especially David. “Makes sense.”

_Michael_

“Right. I’m going to put this—” she held up a bit of cork, “behind your ear, so I don’t end up stabbing you in the neck.”

_Michael..._

Michael nodded. Star reached out, needle in one hand and cork in the other, tucking one behind his left ear and holding the other a little ways off.

“Ready?” she asked.

_Michael..._

“Yeah,” Michael said.

_Michael!_

Even bracing for it, he still hissed when the needle went though his ear. Damn, that stung.

Star seemed frozen for a moment. Actually, everyone did. They were all staring at him.

“Star?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

She blinked twice then smiled apologetically. “Sorry. Everything feel okay?”

“Stings, but that’s probably normal.”

“Yeah,” Star confirmed, then held up an earring. A little brass-colored disc, hanging from a hook of the same material. “Usually studs are the best for new piercings, but as long as you don’t lose this one, it should do fine.”

“Great,” Michael said, trying not to concentrate on the needle still sticking though his ear. “That’ll be great, Star.”

He thought he heard something off to the side, but when he glanced at the rest of the boys out of the corner of his eye, they were still sitting there, not moving.

Star stuck the earring hook into the needle and pushed the whole thing through his ear. The needle pulling out probably hurt more than it going in, and he couldn’t help twitching.

“And we’re done,” Star said. “I’ll give you something to clean it out with later. Make sure to turn the earring, and move it around, you don’t want your ear to stick to it.” She demonstrated with her own earrings, and Michael copied her.

“Excellent,” David said from right behind Michael’s shoulder, clapping it with a hand. Michael nearabout jumped out of his fucking skin at that.

_When the fuck had he moved?_

“The lady’s earned her drink,” David continued, holding the bottle of Jack out to Star with his free hand.

Michael looked from David’s face to Star’s, sensing that he was missing something here.

Whatever it was, it faded fast. Star took the bottle from David and had a drink herself, then passed it back to Michael.

Several more passes and some time later and the bottle was empty. Paul'd had another joint to share too. Michael was definitely feeling the effects of both. 

He was really not sure he should be driving like this.

He argued with himself over it as they walk out to the bikes. Eventually caution won out, but only just.

"I'm a little concerned that I'm going to drive right into a fucking tree," he said, leaning against his bike. _And I doubt I'll be as lucky about it as dear old Dad was_ , he added bitterly in the privacy of his own head.

David tilted his head at Michael.

"Wellll…" he started, drawing it out. A nasty smile grew across his face. "You could always ride bitch."

The other boys started laughing, and Michael felt a bright and familiar flare of anger growing in his chest.

"Fuck you, asshole," he snarled, and swung onto his bike, refusing to think about it too much.

“Let’s go, boys,” David called, and they all started off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is just the bridge scene from David POV. Someday I'll figure out how to write Michael flying, but it's not today.

David did keep an eye on Michael as they drove. That was the problem with getting Michael drunk enough to think what David was going to do to him was an effect of the alcohol; it meant that Michael was _drunk_. Not conducive to getting to the bridge in one piece under his own power.

So they went a bit slower than they had last night, and David gave Michael some periodic mental adjustments to keep him from maiming himself on a tree.

The other boys noticed, of course. They weren’t idiots, for all that they loved to act like it sometimes. They’d all tasted the blood last night too. They _knew_ what this meant. They started herding Michael a bit too, much to David’s pleasure.

Getting along with someone for an evening was one thing. Actively taking steps to prevent someone from getting hurt? _Without_ David having actually told them to? The last time he'd seen that happen (with someone who was an… _appropriate_ age to turn) was with Paul, twenty years ago.

With the other boys watching out for Michael as well, they all got to the tracks over the gorge with no problems. David pulled over to one side along with Dwayne and Michael, and Marko and Paul parked on the other.

Everyone swung off of their bikes, and David led the way onto the bridge. Despite moving a little slower than usual due to Michael, they were right on time to catch the 11:30 train.

“Perfect timing,” he said.

“What’s going on?” Michael asked quietly, uncertain.

David chuckled quietly. “Michael wants to know what’s going on,” he announced to the other boys, folding his arms behind his back. Paul laughed a little, but he knew the game.

“Marko? What’s going on?” David asked, starting them off.

“I’unno,” Marko said. “What’s going on, Paul?”

“Wait, _who_ wants to know?” Paul asked with a snicker.

“Michael wants to know!” added Dwayne, placing his own stamp of approval on the proceedings.

“I think we should let Michael know what’s going on,” David said. Paul confirmed with a “Yeeeeah,” and David caught Michael—who had wandered up to flank David on the left—by the shoulder and spun him to face Marko, standing on the edge. Michael was grinning slightly, pretty obviously willing to roll with things.

 _We’ll see_ , thought David with amusement.

“Marko?” He asked, looking at his most obedient boy with raised brows.

“G’night, Michael,” Marko said with a wave and a grin, then jumped off the edge. “ _Bombs awaaayy!_ ” he called as he dropped the couple of feet to the bar below, catching hold of it.

David grinned and turned his head to look at Michael, chuckling. Michael clearly wasn’t believing what his eyes were telling him, and the confused expression on his face as he tried to make sense of Marko jumping off a bridge was just _adorable_.

“Bottoms up, man,” Paul said, next in line, snapping his fingers and dropping off with a howl. He preferred to have his hands up from the start after the one time he’d missed and had to fly back up, much to the other boys’ amusement.

Dwayne, quiet as he was, just gave them the fingerguns and glanced down as he hopped off.

Michael was still trying to figure things out when David stepped up onto the edge, keeping his eyes locked on Michael’s the whole time. A bird called.

“Come with us, Michael,” he murmured, then turned and walked off the edge.

David caught hold of the bar, keeping his eyes fixed up. When Michael’s worried face appeared, looking down on him and the boys, Paul and Marko started hollering and hooting, kicking at each other as they hung there. One of them called Michael’s name.

“Michael Emerson!” David yelled, having teased out Michael’s last name last night. “Come on down!”

Marko and Paul kept calling as well, encouragement morphing into praise as Michael oh-so-carefully lowered himself to hang from the bridge as well.

“Welcome aboard, Michael,” Paul yelled, a smirk evident in his tone. He and Dwayne started holding onto the bar with one hand apiece, switching off every couple of seconds.

“Fun, huh?” David asked, knowing that Michael did not agree. He would learn. They regularly came out and play-fought to see who could make the others fall from the bar first, or to see who could hold on the longest while a train hauling freight went by overhead.

 _Speaking of which…_ A train horn sounded, and David glanced up and grinned.

Michael was starting to look really worried now, despite the other boys still playing and yelling where they were hanging behind David.

“Hold on!” David yelled over the sound of the train as it started to cross the tracks. The bar they were all hanging from started to vibrate; not unbearably, by any means, but it would get more and more difficult to hold on as the train passed overhead.

“Jesus _CHRIST_ ,” Michael screamed, terrified now. David could see it; Michael could imagine _falling_ far too well.

Tonight was, at least in part, about getting him over that fear.

David kept his eyes fixed on Michael’s face, watching his mouth start to form the shapes of words—pleas, questions, curses? 

_Little bit of all three_ , he thought.

Paul, impatient as always, dropped with a “ _Yeahhh!_ ” and a laugh.

Michael screamed again at that.

Marko, wonderful boy that he was, yelled, “Don’t be scared, Michael!” and let go, screaming as he fell.

Michael was still caught between what he was seeing and what he thought he knew; he was breathing heavily in fear and exertion, switching his focus between the fog below and David’s face.

Dwayne dropped next, with nothing but a yell.

Michael watched him fall in horror.

“Michael, you’re one of us! Let go!” David yelled.

“Do _what?_ ” Michael yelled back, half confusion, half disbelief.

“ _You are one of us, Michael!_ ” David bellowed, willing the words to sink into Michael’s head.

Michael mouthed ‘ _what_ ’ again, but he looked a little less panicked now.

David grinned and very purposely let go, dropping into the fog. He heard Michael shriek his name, which just made his smile wider. He didn’t object to being Michael’s favorite _at all_.

David and the other boys hovered there in the fog, just out of sight. Marko elbowed Paul and opened his hands. _I think he’s going to let go._

Paul grinned. _Wanna bet?_

They were about to shake on it when Dwayne nodded at Paul. _I’m with him._

All three of them looked at David, who smirked and shook his head. _Wouldn’t be fair for me to bet, I’ve been fucking with his mind all evening._

They all nodded in understanding and stacked hands to seal the deal, then resumed waiting for their latest Lost Boy to fall.

The train rumbled into the distance and the boys took advantage of being able to be heard again to start yelling at Michael, calling encouragements and taunts at him.

David focused, staring upwards.

_Michael…_

He couldn’t see it, but he could _sense_ it, as Michael tried to pull himself up.

_Michael…_

Michael’s fingers slipped and David chuckled.

_Michael…_

Michael fell screaming.

Marko, on the other hand, yelled “ _Dick!_ ” as he lost the bet. Dwayne and Paul started laughing and hollering, high-fiving as Marko exaggeratedly sulked.

David was still focusing on Michael. The fog, the alcohol, the weed were all making this easier but it was still difficult to begin with.

_Come on, Michael. **Fly.**_


End file.
